Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Battle for Libya: Uprising in Nalut

#07:55amRussia is not planning to respond to Libya's plea that it call an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council to discuss what Moscow has described as Western aggression, a foreign ministry official told Itar-TASS news agency.

Vladimir Putin, Russia's prime minister, has criticised the Western countries enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya and said they have gone beyond the limits of a Security Council resolution designed to protect civilians. #Timestamp: 07:40amAl Jazeera's Anita McNaught went to the town of Nalut, in the Nefusa mountain range of western Libya, to meet the people testing their new sense of freedom - and the risks that come with it.

The report below includes scenes and images never seen before of the uprising in Nalut:

#Timestamp: 06:30amWith the conflict raging on in Libya, education is suffering, especially in the rebel-held areas.

Al Jazeera's Omar Al Saleh has this report from Benghazi, where some students and teachers are finding themselves on the frontline in the battle against government forces:

#Timestamp: 05:34am

Revolutionary graffiti can be seen emblazoned on walls across the rebel-held cities in eastern Libya.

File 24976Graffiti seen on March 31 in Adjabiya, the gateway to the east and about 150km south of Benghazi [Reuters]#Timestamp: 05:16am

Libya's tribes urged Gaddafi to cede power as rebels backed by NATO air strikes said they forced the missiles out of range of the port city of Misurata.

File 24936Rebels participate in military training camp in Zintan in the region of Nalut [AFP]#Timestamp: 03:34am

Hundreds of migrant workers and Misurata residents have boarded the Red Star to escape the war-torn city in western Libya. The ship achored out at sea because of heavy shelling. The migrants mainly from Niger and Chad came under fire in their makeshift camp near the port.#Timestamp: 03:24am

Pro-Gaddafi forces blasted the western rebel-held town of Zintan with rockets on Wednesday, leaving at least three people wounded. A local hospital was also damaged in the attack, according to eyewitnesses.

At least 20 Grad rockets struck Zintan, with three of them crashing near the hospital. The town located southwest of the Libyan capital, Tripoli, has been pounded by Gaddafi forces since Sunday.#Timestamp: 01:52am

Libya's opposition Transitional National Council hailed a move by the US to ease sanctions to open a stream of funding to forces seeking to topple Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. The council said:

The people of Libya are brave and defiant but we need access to oil revenues so that we can feed, protect and defend our families.

These funds are crucial to establishing a stable and secure future nation, and we welcome the US decision to ease sanctions on our exports.

#Timestamp: 11:18pm

Many Gaddafi aides want to defect but fear is preventing them from abandoning the Libyan leader, the US envoy to Tripoli said on Wednesday.

Referring to Libyan government ministers "and other technocrats" in Gaddafi's inner circle, Ambassador Gene Cretz said in Washington:

They would like to break, but they're, number one, afraid - afraid for their lives. And they're also afraid for their families.

Cretz said Gaddafi's hardcore supporters "probably believe that their last stand has to be with him because they probably don't have a future".